The Oldest Ongoing Tradition of Art in the World Essay

I chose the artwork “Kelly and the Red Horse” to represent the cultural frame. This detailed piece of Australian art shows the outback, mountains, skies and trees. It also falls under the cultural frame because of its mountainous, Australian scenery. The cultural qualities of this painting is what makes it fall under this category.

The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,

During the early settlement of Australia, art was primarily used for documentary purposes by ammeters and pioneers (Splatt and McLellan 1986, 1). The arrival of trained European artists yielded a wave of Colonial oil paintings (Manton 1979, 58), however, these artists were “…trained to regard the landscapes of Europe as the norm.” and therefore their work could not accurately portray the Australian identity and atmosphere (Splatt and McLellan 1986, 1-2). These Colonial artists “…retained the smooth, anonymous surface established by academic procedures and practice.” (Manton 1979, 58). As such, their European eye and techniques distorted the Australian landscape into picturesque, “park-like green hills and bubbling streams bathed in a gentle light.” (Australian Government, 2009), often grounded “….in the middle distance…” (McCaughey 1979, 7). In a stark contrast, the landscapes produced by Heidelberg School artists were lauded for their portrayal of the Australian landscape “…experience(,) realized fully in paint.” (McCaughey 1979, 7). Frederick McCubbin’s Bush Study (1902) exemplifies the difference between the work of Colonial artists and those of the Heidelberg School with its use of Impressionist techniques becoming “…an essential and explicit part of the painting.” (Manton 1979, 58). Within this work, the bush is treated as a familiar abundance and brought “…forward, virtually right up on to the picture plane.” (ibid). The “…iridescent palette and roughened paint texture…” of the work immerses the viewer allowing them to gather a sense of the heat dulled, melancholic Australian bush landscape (ibid, 54-58). McCubbin’s work, as with other Heidelberg School paintings, depict “…a world which is 'natural', self-contained, self-sufficient and paradigmatically Australian.” (Hills 1991,

This work examines the past and also imagines the future by using references of past racial murders and the way they coincide with the present context and explore Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture in the present-day. Ah Kee created this series of artworks in response to the apparent police cover up of the death of a young man in their custody, for protection of their own lead to claims of racism. The faces are also non-specific and have no identity, this refers back to the devastating history of racial discrimination and violence against indigenous people in

Australia is a young, modern country made up of a diverse and multicultural population, therefore, it’s difficult to say that it has a single national identity. This essay will examine what Australia’s identity may look like, specifically, through art.

The fourth lesson will be analyse the content of the picture book “Why I love Australia” by Bronwyn Bancroft. The lesson involves: discovering the visual art element and principals of the illustration (VAES1.3); introduce the artist Bronwyn Bancroft (VAES1.3); explore the traditional Indigenous feature and art technique used in the illustration (VAES1.3); reading the book to class, and guiding student to discover the relation between the words and pictures (ENe-1A).

The identity of Australia as a place comes from both its physical features and the atmosphere, which is often created by its physical appearance. Three artists who have depicted the Australian landscape in different styles are Arthur Streeton, John Olsen and Sally Morgan. Streeton’s works are in a realistic but lively style typical of the Heidelberg school. He was intent on recreating the light and warmth of the land. Olsen and Morgan’s works, on the other hand, offer more abstract interpretations of the land. During the 1960s and 1970s, Olsen captured the essence and the energy of the landscape with his bold and bright brushwork whilst Morgan’s work from the 1980s portrays Australia from an indigenous perspective, which she achieves through her use of Aboriginal symbolism and cultural imagery.

The traditional aboriginal art depicts places, events and dreaming ancestors, also incorporating actual events, whereas the temporary was only for initiation ceremonies and funerals. The aboriginal art opens up ways of communicating the close relationship between the ancestral beings and the laws, views, values, ceremonies and obligations of the people. They enable understanding and knowledge within a community and also partcially the outside world.

Aboriginal art in Australia is both beautiful and meaningful. According to Perkins, Hetti and West (2007) Aboriginal art allows for reconciliation of the events of the past two centuries’ that is used as inspiration for their work. Whilst researching the Indigenous cultural heritage of Mount Barker, Western Australia I came across a well know Noongar artist from the region, Charlie Colbung. Colbung was born in Mount Barker in 1970 and still resides in the South West region where he is an Indigenous health worker as well as an Indigenous programs officer for the Great Southern TAFE (Design and Art Australia, n.d.). There are two prominent themes in Aboriginal art consisting of both country such as the land and kinship, the people (Perkins, Hetti

Elizabeth Tragenza (2010) establishes that the Western Desert, or “Papunya art movement”, fully transpired in 1971 and was a “contemporary Aboriginal art form”. This movement was shared and pertained within language groups, such as the Pintupi, Warlpiri, Arrernte,

Warmun art has been at the forefront of contemporary art. Their art consists of dotting techniques and the use of natural ochre and pigments on canvas “which is integral to the contemporary expression of land and culture as identity for Gija people” ("Warmun Art Centre | Kimberley”). The use of dots, lines and tonal colors in their paintings creates an aerial perspective of their land. The history of massacres and violence is a large part of their oral tradition and is often depicted in their art. Warmun artists also draw on traditional Ngarranggarni dreaming stories which refers to “the time when the landscape took its

‘Bush-fire II’ is one of Aboriginal artwork, which is come from Early Western Desert Paintings and made in 1972. During the period 1971-1974, a new, dynamic movement in painting palmer Pan Ya in indigenous communities in the centre of Australia. These Luritja Pintupi, collaborated with Anmatyerr man begin to create using the ship and canvas acrylic painting works of art from ancient story. These poignant representations of the Dreaming exploded onto the Australian art market. The painting is the strong statements on aboriginal culture. Every picture reference, this is the ancestor teach people a certain area of land and related laws. Artists use imagery of rituals, before in the holy sacrifice object, and the body design and protocol used in painting,

Australia’s national and cultural icons range from natural landmarks to man-made wonders. They are instantly recognisable, have special significance and are uniquely Australian. (1) Two Australian artist’s that created cultural iconic images through their artworks, were Sydney Nolan and Russell Drysdale. During the 1940s cultural, social changes and the Second World War influenced them to depict issues in their works. Both artists were affected by the war, had an interest in the bush, its people and the harsh drought at the time. This encouraged them to reflect on national themes which they personally could associate and identify with. Their

The construction of Aboriginality in Australia has been achieved through a variety of processes, in various places and at various levels of society, giving rise to a complex interaction between the constructions. At the local level, the most striking line of tension may seem to lie between what Aboriginal people say about themselves and what others say about them. But crosscutting this is another field of tension between the ideas of Aboriginality (and non-Aboriginality) that people of all kinds construct and reproduce for themselves, and the constructions produced at the national level by the state in its various manifestations, the mass media, science, the arts and so on (Beckett, 1988).

Throughout history to present day, Australian culture has become the product of a distinct blend of established traditions and new influences. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the country’s original inhabitants, created the foundation for the land’s cultural traditions over 40,000 years ago. In addition, the rest of Australia’s people are migrants or descendants of migrants from various other countries who transported their own customs, beliefs, and value systems to the land. As a result, Australia’s culture has significantly broadened its social and cultural profile over the years, and still continues to evolve today.